Ans-1

‘Operation’: An activity of a business or organization is called an operation. For e.g.

production, inspection, packing, transport etc.
‘Research’: The application of scientific methods, techniques, and tools to find and report
new knowledge about something.
Definitions of ‘Operations Research’
1. Operations Research is the application of scientific methods, techniques, and tools to
the operation of a system with optimum solution to the problem.
2. Operations Research is a technique to choose the best course of action from a
number of alternatives.
Modern technological advance is accompanied by a growth of scientific techniques.
While existing methods have been improved to meet the challenge of problems
arising from the development of commerce and industry, a large number of new
techniques or so-called sophisticated tools of analysis have been and are being
devised to enlarge the extent of scientific knowledge to unlimited bounds of its
applications. Such techniques have brought about a virtual revolution and can be
reckoned as controlling forces in different walks of life. Operations Research,
popularly known as OR, is a recent addition to a long list of scientific tools which
provide a new outlook to many conventional management problems. OR adds greater
sophistication in solving management problems. It seeks the determination of the
best (optimum) course of action of a decision problem, given the limited resources.
Therefore, OR has become a versatile tool in the field of management and its potential
for future use is indeed substantial.

Ans-2
Applications of Operations Research
1) It provides a tool for scientific analysis.
2) It provides a solution to various business problems.
3) It increases the creative ability of decision maker.
4) It enables proper deployment of resources.
5) It helps in minimizing the waiting and servicing costs.
6) It enables management to decide when to buy and how much to buy.
7) It assists in choosing an optimum strategy.
8) It renders great help in optimum resource allocation.
9) Through OR management can know the reactions of integrated business systems.
10)OR techniques help in training/grooming of future managers.
 Ans-3
Slack Variables;
If the constraints of a general LPP be

Then the non-negative variables Si which are introduced to convert the inequalities
(≤) to the equalities

are called slack variables.

Surplus variables:
If the constraints of a general LPP be

Then, the non-negative variables Si which are introduced to convert the

inequalities ≥ to the equalities

are called surplus variables.

Ans-4
Linear programming (LP) is a branch of Mathematics which deals
with modeling a decision problem and subsequently solving it by mathematical techniques.
The problem is presented in a form of a linear function which is to be optimized (i.e.
maximized or minimized) subject to a set of linear constraints. The function to be
optimized is known as the objective function .Linear programming finds many uses in the
business and industry, where a decision maker may want to utilize limited available
resources in the best possible manner. The limited resources may include material, money,
manpower, space and time. Linear Programming provides various methods of solving such
problems.
Formulation of LPP:
The procedure for mathematical formulation of an LP problem consists of the
following steps:
Step 1 Write down the decision variables of the problem.
Step 2 Formulate the objective function to be optimized (Maximized or Minimized) as a
linear function of the decision variables.
Step 3 Formulate the other conditions of the problem such as resource limitation,
market constraints and interrelations between variables as linear inequations or
equations in terms of the decision variables.
Step 4 Add the non-negativity constraint from the considerations so that the
negative values of the decision variables do not have any valid physical interpretation.

The objective function, the set of constraint and the non-negative constraint together form
a linear programming problem.

Ans-5
There are two types of transportation problem:
1) Balanced Transportation Problem: If the total supply is equal to total demand.
2) Unbalanced transportation Problem: If the total supply is not equal to total demand
There are two possible cases;

If the total supply is less than the total demand, a dummy source (row) is included
in the cost matrix with zero cost; the excess demand is entered as a rim requirement
for this dummy source (origin). Hence, the unbalanced transportation problem can
be converted into a balanced TP.
i.e., the total supply is greater than the total demand. In this case, the unbalanced
TP can be converted into a balanced TP by adding a dummy destination (column)
with zero cost. The excess supply is entered as a rim requirement for the dummy
destination.

Ans-6
Two-person zero-sum game
A game with only two players is called a two-person zero-sum game if the losses of
one player are equivalent to the gains of the other so that the sum of their net gains is
zero. This game also known as rectangular game.
Consider a two-person coin tossing game. Each player tosses an unbiased coin
simultaneously. Each player selects either a head H or a tail T. If the outcomes match (i.e.,
(H, H) or (T, T)) then A wins Rs. 4 from B; otherwise, B wins Rs. 3 from A.
This game is a two-person zero-sum game, since the winning of one player is taken as
losses for the other. Each player has his choice from amongst two pure strategies H and T.

Ans-7
Properties of pay-off matrix
In a two-person game, suppose that the player A has m activities and the player B has
n activities. Then a payoff matrix can be formed by adopting the following rules:
(i) Row designations for each matrix are activities available to the player A.
(ii) Column designations for each matrix are activities available to the player B.
(iii) Cell entry vij is the payment to the player A in A’s payoff matrix when A chooses the
activity i and B chooses the activity j.
(iv) For a zero-sum game, the cell entry in the player B’s payoff matrix will be negative
corresponding to the cell entry vij in the player A’s payoff matrix so that the sum of payoff
matrices for the players A and B is ultimately zero.

Ans-8
1. Decision-making under Certainty:
A condition of certainty exists when the decision-maker knows with reasonable certainty
what the alternatives are, what conditions are associated with each alternative, and the
outcome of each alternative. Under conditions of certainty, accurate, measurable, and
reliable information on which to base decisions is available.
Example: Jason is looking for place to rent. He had been offered with two alternative rental
places. Rental A and Rental B. Rental A is near to Jason's workplace and is within walking
distance. Rental B is a bit far from his working place and required him to drive to walk.
Both rental fees are RM500 per room. With the complete information above, Jason will be
able to make decision in a very certain condition and will choose Rental A.
2. Decision-making under Uncertainty:
In the environment of uncertainty, more than one type of event can take place and the
decision maker is completely in dark regarding the event that is likely to take place. The
decision maker is not in a position, even to assign the probabilities of happening of the
events.
Such situations generally arise in cases where happening of the event is determined by
external factors. For example, demand for the product, moves of competitors, etc. are the
factors that involve uncertainty.

Ans-9
Decision Tree Analysis
A ‘Decision tree’ is one of the tools used for the diagrammatic presentation of the
sequential and multidimensional aspects of a particular decision problem for
systematic analysis and evaluation. Here, the decision problem, the alternative
courses of action, the states of nature and the likely outcomes of alternatives are
diagrammatically or graphically depicted as branches and sub-branches of a horizontal
tree.
The decision tree consists of nodes and branches. The nodes are of two types,
decision nodes and chance nodes. Courses of action (or strategies) originate from
the decision nodes as the main branches. At the terminal of each main branch there
are chance nodes. From these chance nodes, chance events emanate in the form of
sub-branches. The respective pay-offs and probabilities associated with alternative
courses and chances events are shown along the sub-branches. At the terminal of
the sub-branches are shown the expected values of the outcome.
 Ans-10

Ans-11
Let X1 and X2 be the number of units of type A and type B hats respectively.
Max Z = 8X1 + 5X2
Subject to
2X1 + 2X2 ≤ 500
X1 ≥ 150
X2 ≥ 250
X1 , X2 ≥ 0
Rewrite the inequality of the constraint into an equation and plot the lines in the graph.
2X1 + X2 = 500 passes through (0, 500) (250, 0)
 X1= 150 passes through (150, 0)
X2= 250 passes through (0, 250)

We mark the region below the lines lying in the first quadrant since the inequality of the
constraints is ≤ . The feasible region is OABCD and B and C are points of intersection of
lines
2X1 + X2 = 500, X1 = 150 and
2X1 + X2 = 500, X2 = 250
On solving, we get B = (150,200)
C = (125,250)

Corner points Value of Z = 8X1 + 5X2

O (0,0) 0
A (150,0) 1200
B (150,200) 2200
C (125,250) 2250 (Maximum Z = 2250)
D (0,250) 1250
The maximum value of Z is attained at C (125, 250).
∴ The optimal solution is X1 = 125, X2 = 250.
i.e., the company should produce 125 hats of type A and 250 hats of type B in order to get
the maximum profit of Rs 2250.

Ans-12
Select the smallest element in each row and subtract this smallest element from all the
elements in its row.

Subtract the minimum element from each column and subtract this element from all the
elements in its column. With this, we get the first modified matrix.
In this modified matrix, we draw the minimum number of lines to cover all zeros
(horizontal or vertical).

The number of lines drawn to cover all zeroes is 4= N.

The order of matrix is n = 5.
Hence, N < n.
Now we get the second modified matrix by subtracting the smallest uncovered element
from the remaining uncovered elements and add it to the element at the point of
intersection of lines.

The number of lines drawn to cover all zeroes = N = 5.

The order of matrix is n = 5.
Hence, N = n. Now, we determine the optimum assignment.
Therefore 1→D, 2→A, 3→E, 4→B, 5→C with minimum cost Rs. 21.

Ans-13
Given;
Mean arrival rate λ = 300 vehicles/hr
Mean service rate µ = 360 vehicles/hr
(i) Traffic intensity = ρ = λ/µ=300/360 = 0.833.
(ii) Average number of vehicles in the system = E[X] =ρ/ (1−ρ)=4.98.
(iii) Average queue length =E[Lq] = ρ2/(1−ρ) = 4.01.
(iv) Average delay per vehicle= E[Tq] = λ / µ (µ−λ)= 0.013hr = 0.83 min = 50 sec.
(v) Average time a vehicle is in the system= E[T] = 1/(µ−λ)= 0.016 hr = 0.96 min = 57.6 sec.
 Ans-14
The earliest time and the latest time are obtained below

From the above table, the critical nodes are the activities (1, 3), (3, 5) and (5, 9)

Hence, the critical path is 1 → 3 → 5 → 9.